Ordinary World
by thedarkhasfallen
Summary: Continuation of Silicon and Stars Collide... Crash-landing.


**A/N: Been working off and on with this little bit for a little over six months now... :dies: XD Be forewarned, the amount of anachronism is incredible. :shoots self: For that reason, I deeply despise it. However, I love it because this is before Swifty got all mopy and stuff. It's a lot more upbeat than my normal stuff. D8 Anywho, this takes place immediately after Silicon and Stars Collide. And yes, it does include "THE SONG" in it. XDDDDDD Read SASC if you didn't get that. XDDDDD **

**Do enjoy and remember to R&R!!! XP **

Ordinary World

_Wake up._

A groan poured from my already open mouth as my eyes flickered open, not to take in the scorching artificial light, but velvety darkness. My eyes instantly adjusted to the dramatic shift in lighting, taking in extremely strange contours in the layout of the floor of the colony as thoughts traversed to the more apocalyptic scenarios they could draw up.

_Mass power outage? Are we careening towards Earth right now?! What's going on?! Where is everyone?! Meteor storm? What's happening? Shadow?!_

The fact that silence remained caused something to tear inside me. A quick inner glance told me that my brother was alive, but not near. I knew that our mental connection was much stronger than the width of the ARK, but couldn't comprehend why I didn't feel any barriers.

Returning to reality, I pressed a hand against the bed beneath me, finding that the bed was nonexistent and that a hot and sticky substance was in its place. Jerking into a sitting position, pain erupted from my right shoulder and leg, instinctively drawing my hand to those locations. I discovered that _I_ was the source of the substance and further focus named it as blood.

_My blood._

Concern quickly dissolved with the pain, though it remained a dull throb at the edge of my consciousness while my body healed itself. Diverting my attention away from the injuries, though they were the priority, I looked around, interest immediately slamming onto the hunk of bright orange and grey around fifteen yards from my position.

_What the-?_

Abruptly, a soothing, feminine, mechanical voice reminiscent of the ARK floated from the mass.

"Destination reached. Mission accomplished. Disintegration process twenty percent complete."

Tilting my head to the side in questioning, I listened for anything further from the machine.

"Location?" I asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence.

"Most recent destination: Earth." The computer replied, lacking the emotion of such a deliverance.

_How? What?!_

In a flurry, I was on my feet, eyes scanning over the landscape. Open. As far as I could see. I bent down and scooped up a handful of the flooring, discerning it to be soil as opposed to metal. A light brush against my arm triggered my defense, but as I flipped away, I realized that it was only one of many long strands of grass sprouting from the ground beneath me. I quickly called on Chaos, launching a flash of energy into the atmosphere to insure that my abilities still remained. Surprisingly, the amount released was greater than I intended.

_I'm... stronger?_

After a moment of questioningly gazing at my hands, I turned my head upwards to the heavens in search of an answer. The only answers I received were the shimmering of the stars above as their light pierced the planet's atmosphere, the massive white orb of the full moon, though it appeared farther away than usual, and the occasional dark passings of the blobs of moisture floating above. I blinked at this scene. It was beautiful, much more so than the view from space, though that was aesthetically pleasing as well. Yet, this was new, something I'd never experienced.

I returned to a seated position, a little further from the disintegrating escape pod this time. As I put my arms out behind me for support, my hand brushed a smooth, but familiar feeling, metallic object. I instantly wrapped my hand around it and brought it up for observation, discovering it to be my iPod. With a squeal in happiness, I realized that the only one who would have been thoughtful enough to include such a sentimental item would have been Shadow. Further investigation of the area nearby turned up a black blanket dappled with white and the occasional yellow dots.

_Space._

I smiled at this, feeling the grin pull at my lips. Shadow would be the only one to think of all this. Abruptly, I recalled exactly what my last conversation with him had been about. Screaming flooded my memory as accusations built and I lost any happiness I had gained in the last few minutes.

_I screamed at him and he..._

A warm, moist drop darted down my cheek and I brushed it away as my heart shuddered in its bone cage.

_What a terrible note to fall on..._

My poor exit left me stranded and him... Well, I didn't know where he stood.

_I shouldn't have yelled at him like that... should have apologized... And now, I won't have the chance._

I had to find the motive behind this action, had to. My memory ripped up more events, searching for an answer as I closed my eyes to the cold breeze that actually burned my tear-streaked cheeks.

I remembered Shadow saying something about the iPod... I fiercely wrapped my hand around the device and continued my search for the headphones. After several tense moments, my search was no longer bountiful, as I assumed the headphones no disintegrated with the remnants of the pod. Hissing at this new development, I realized that I would have to venture into civilization to discover the truth and could only cling to the hope that he hadn't gotten rid of me. I swallowed anxiously and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders as a glacial breeze swept across the area. Fear came with it, chilling me to the bone and mocking me with doubts that flitted right at my mind's edge, always out of reach, always there. I grimaced, standing once more to observe the world.

The horizon all around was dark, giving me no indication on which direction would carry me to safety. Suddenly, this new place seemed formidable, hostile, certainly no place for an outsider to be wandering aimlessly.

_Outsider._

That word reverberated inside of me angrily, discouraging action. It applied, for I no longer belonged anywhere. I could not return to the ARK; it was impossible without what the Professor had told me were Chaos Emeralds. And I most certainly did not belong here. I felt strangely empty, hollow. And the void ached agonizingly.

Clutching fearfully at my chest, I staggered forward, in the direction the frigid zephyr was blowing. If I could follow nothing else, I would follow the wind. The wind seemed somehow familiar. Somehow. Grimace gone, I felt my face harden defensively against whatever this world would bring to rid itself of the outcast.

_Ten years later..._

I had waited ten years for the miracle of headphones. And it had been a _long_ ten years. And yet, I had remained, ever watching, analyzing the ways of this world.

"Here you go, ma'am. Your change is eleven forty-nine. Thank you for shopping with us." The cashier, a female shrew, deposited the change into my open hand with a patent-pending grin, completely insincere. Resisting the urge to beat down any disrespectful beings that were unlucky enough to be in my path had been one of the more tricky aspects of this world, considering that I was hard-wired for aggression and destruction.

"Thanks." I responded with a pseudo-grin of my own, closing my fingers around the money and slipping it into my backpack carelessly. I then snatched up the awaiting plastic bag and strode out of the store with my head held high.

The weather today was odd. The meteorologist had not predicted precipitation for Thursday, yet, here it was, rain on Thursday. The cloud-cover had prevented the usual spectacular sunset from showing itself, and now, darkness rushed in quickly. Eying an oncoming thunderhead with mild wariness, I briefly considered breaking into a run for home, thwarted only by the presence of the locality.

Thus, I strode down the avenue, ignorant of my appearing foolish to the mortal population. The sky simply tore itself open without regard for any being below. Blinking into the now-steadily-falling precipitation, I observed with dull resentment as lovers, brothers, daughters took the hands of their partners and toddle off for cover from the murky skies, leaving me as I had always been since crash-landing in what they call "New Mexico"...

Forsaken.

My heart sank and I averted my vision to the empyrean, sight filled to the brim with boiling deluge. Fascinated, I kept my eyes directed skyward as my feet automatically took up the route home. With more zeal, I allowed myself the smallest of simpers at the nebular forces at work above.

Or perhaps not.

_It's okay, kiddo._

Just unaccompanied by any temporal being tangibly at my side.

I whirled around at the voice, pivoting on my left heel and slamming both feet to the ground, fingers curling in anticipation of catching a blow. None came. Confounded, I tilted my head slightly, looking over the empty street with some discord. Out of sheer animal instinct, my quills stood up on end, though dampened by the moisture falling heavy like micro-angels turned traitor from God. In that respect, I was as descended as Lucifer.

"Fallen star." Such is was I had been referred to by the media swarm. Well... perhaps not me, but certainly the hull that had capsuled me in its icy shield. I had lingered in the grass nearby, accounting for all of the curious sapiens' movements as my mind ran rampant through images of the foreboding incubus I had lived through during my fall.

They'd always told me that one does not dream in cryo...  
So much for that.  
Screams, horrid flickerings of blood staining the jagged metal of extended claws, hardened topaz irises locked in on a deceptive and certainly malevolent villain.  
But, just what side defined the villain? Certainly not my side...  
But, whose side was I on?

I often found myself asked that same question, surrounded by a host of nosy humans, all wishing to know where I stood in this so-called "Red Scare". With cheeks of scarlet, I proclaimed my alliance with a nation of cerise, ivory, and azure, having discovered myself struck by the majesty and patriotism merely represented within the nation's capital. Apparently, a war has just been won, and another, silent one just begun. I bitterly contemplated whether this was what The Professor meant when he spoke of the transgressions this world has suffered at the hands of its keepers.

The transgressions his ultimate pair was meant to amend, he'd once said.

Pair.

I longed to stand at his side again. I became a mood lacking a proper planet to orbit, a planet without a star. I became the Wanderer, flitting wherever the zephyrs took me, surviving on the bare necessities, for I barely had to sleep, ingest, or even hydrate. I assumed such advantages I took on from my state simply could not be taken for granted.

Still perturbed and unsatisfied, I wheeled back around and continued down the sidewalk, gazing emptily at the transformation of this world's flora upon the arrival of precipitation. It appeared lusher, more full and colorful, while human structures took on dreary hues. I wondered at the phenomena, while the rest of the world turned its head.

I found it amusing. Not ten years ago, I would have been racing around on the magnificent Space Colony ARK, floating in a sea of stars.

Now, it's gone away.

Establishing myself on "Terra" was not simple, nor will it _be_ simple, for this initiation appears to be a lifelong endeavour, should I choose to pursue a place among this population. Not only learn to survive, but learn to _live_, even among them.

_You've grown up, sis..._

I hurried my pace, rain splattering in glacial drops against my already frigid fur. Soaked to the bone, I bounded up the steps of my abode, shoved the key in the lock, and turned.

It wasn't ARK.  
But, it was something.

Beyond the picture window before me lay a vast expanse of a minute ocean, the lake, haloed in a corona of auburn and verdant life that only a nebula's ever-changing auroras could compare to in beauty. I scampered about the place, flicking on the lights and the radio to soothe my nerves before settling on the couch. Remotely, I adjusted the dial on the radio, quelling the static to near-silence, as if that would drown the eidolon's voice out.

_Please don't shed a tear for the past..._

So, I sank into the cushions, tearing the newly-purchased item from its plastic covering and gently easing it over my ears as I pawed around in my backpack for the sole thing that would claim my attention. Finally claiming the iPod from the depths, I shakily inserted the headphones into the jack, with my thumb hovering over the faded ashen "Play/Pause" symbol. Sucking in a deep breath and gathering myself for one final time, I depressed the button and waited, eyes fixed on the horizon.

Percussion. Crescendo with cymbals. Solemn surrendering stroke of the guitar. And then, not even a second later, the voice. As if sent straight from the heavens.

_"One thing... Before you go.  
It's never easy, but we both know,  
at times our lives can take different roads.  
And if so... I want to leave this with you._

If we never meet again,  
I'll still call you friend,  
and will see you through.  
As you go on your way,  
this is what I pray:  
Heaven's watching  
with angels over you..."

With closed eyes and an open heart, I felt the cool burn of a soul rekindled. Of a purpose reignited. Of a hope not even death could defy.

Of a life lived in spite of the meaning of the word "impossible". Because impossible means nothing in this "ordinary" world.

**A/N: Story was semi-based off of RED's "Ordinary World", hence the title. As for the song, "Angels Over You" by Nailpoint.**


End file.
